Dr Eric Schmidt, the head of Google, struck a more serious note when he told the festival it would be "a mistake" for governments to try to interfere with the internet in the wake of the English riots.

He said: "The fact of the matter is whatever the problem was...whatever the underlying problem was, the internet is a reflection of that problem, but turning on and off the internet is not going to fix it.

"You better fix whatever the underlying problem was."

His comments came after Home Secretary Theresa May met police and executives from social media networks this week to see how they could help prevent them being used for criminal behaviour.